WHY Chatbots became my Best Friends when we talk about an Increase in ROI !?

Charly Wigstrom
Friday, August 24, 2018

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In just a few months, Messenger bots have exploded onto the digital marketing scene. Not a day goes by without a new article, or a new opinion, about how they’re the Second Coming. And while the initial results are incredibly promising, chances are, you still probably should avoid them for now.

It’s unsurprising, given there are 900 million users on Facebook Messenger, to begin with. And Messenger Bots have already been successful on other chat-based platforms like Slack.

There are so much hype and excitement that they’re expected to “eat the web.” But that hasn’t stopped many companies from already doing interesting things, Even the Army and Alaska Airlines are considering enlisting (corny and obvious, I know).

Chat platforms are nothing new of course. They’ve literally been around for decades. It seems like a lifetime ago when my high school algebra homework was neglected because I was spending too much time talking to girls on AIM.

However, the promise of bots added to the mix has changed the game. Currently, most the chatbots are actually kinda dumb. Many interactions are pre-built, with bots able to only kick back relatively primitive data.

But they’re getting smarter.

In the not too distant future, low-level artificial intelligence will be baked to infer and predict what you’re saying. Both Facebook and Google are reportedly investing in developing virtual assistants. There are also companies like Magic+ springing up to help people solve complex problems through a unique mix of machines & human capital.

The future is incredibly bright. Currently, nascent, no doubt. Yet promising as hell. There’s only one problem. You already have enough on your plate.

Only a dismal 12% are optimistic. And 68% say their efforts are “basic” or “inconsistent”.

Sound familiar? Here’s how to move to reality your efforts:

Move #1. Make sure you have a mix of commercial and unbranded content to bring in visitors who’re searching for solutions to a problem or pain point (and not your services yet).

Move #2. Liven’ up your tone to inject personality, humor and – gasp! – entertainment in your content. That will give it a leg-up on the other 2+ million posts getting published daily.

Move #3. Always focus back on the problem (i.e. the hole) and not the tool (i.e. the drill you sell) when creating content. That keeps the message on-point from a customer’s perspective, giving you the chance to eventually show them how your widget can solve this problematic pain point.

Or, like 75% of marketers, are you still struggling to prove ROI on mobile ad spend?

Remember, ‘Likes’ ain’t the goal. So try these tips instead:

Move #1. Make sure you have campaigns set up to target the Top of the Funnel (like a content piece to draw in visitors), the Middle of the Funnel (target those website visitors with a lead magnet) and the Bottom of the Funnel (like sending those new leads an offer to purchase or sign up now that they’re ready)

Move #2. Try testing the offers, or using a ‘product splintering’-like a one that helps you separate the buyers from the triers.

Move #3. Still nothing’? Start by messing with your combination of Research + Lead Magnet + Ad copy first to boost relevancy or message match.

Or take marketing automation for example. The fastest growing CRM trend over time. Proven; capable of delivering a 451% (!) increase in qualified leads.

I dare you to almost find any negative report about marketing automation & personalization in emails.

And yet… 85% of executives using it aren’t satisfied with their effort. So try this:

Move #1. Setup a dedicated workflow for each of the three ‘funnel stages’ you created above.

Move #2. Send nurturing emails every 3-4 days, for a ~30 day period with a specific action or goal in mind (e.g. sign up for something, click something, purchase something).

Move #3. Create a ‘re-engagement’ campaign after that 30 days (like a discount, promotion, or even an unsubscribe notice) to make sure they’re still interested in what you have to offer and ‘win back’ these peeps to inspire action.

I’m not blaming you – it ain’t your fault. Simply securing a budget for these activities is still a problem for most.

But we haven’t even scratched the surface yet on organic search, mobile, conversion testing, etc.

The list goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. (Wow, that was annoying.)

Throwing up a chatbot will deliver a nice little PR boost no doubt. But then what? And at what cost?

Conclusion

Facebook chatbots have an incredibly promising future. Even in the small sample of early examples, it’s clear how compelling and ultimately useful they will be to your marketing plan.

You shouldn’t ignore them. But you shouldn’t rush to join them quite yet, either. Because chances are, you’ve got enough to deal with already.

You need to get a content plan in place. You need to start utilizing marketing automation and other personalization techniques. And you need to right-size your advertising efforts to make sure you see a clear line from ad spend to ROI.

Those things ain’t easy. They take time. Attention. And money. In other words, they take a lot of the stuff that would otherwise be sunk into developing a new chatbot.